The East Ramapo Central School District (ERCSD) revealed on Monday night, November 18, a budget surplus exceeding $30 million, as previously reported by Matzav.com. In response, Assemblyman-elect Aron Wieder has now called for an urgent investigation into the state-appointed monitors overseeing the district’s financial operations.
Wieder expressed deep concern over what he termed as a misleading financial forecast provided by the state-appointed monitors of the ERCSD. He is pressing for New York State Commissioner of Education Betty Rosa to ensure that the additional 4.38% tax hike levied on East Ramapo taxpayers be returned immediately.
“The thirty million dollar surplus should not have been a surprise,” Wieder asserted, criticizing the monitors for their mishandling of the district’s financial oversight. He pointed out that their grim budget predictions misled Commissioner Rosa into believing the district faced a significant financial shortfall, which led to unnecessary tax increases. Wieder insists that these overpaid taxes must be refunded promptly.
ERCSD taxpayers, Wieder argued, were unfairly burdened with higher taxes due to the monitors’ incorrect warnings of an impending budget deficit. He blamed these inaccurate projections on what he described as serious lapses in financial oversight by the monitors.
Wieder is calling for a thorough examination into why the surplus was only discovered at this stage, highlighting the need to address failures in the monitors’ accountability. “I am calling for an immediate investigation into how this surplus was uncovered only now and why these reimbursements were overlooked,” Wieder stressed. “We need answers for ERCSD taxpayers, and we need mechanisms in place to prevent this from happening again.”
Furthermore, Wieder urged state officials to take immediate action to refund the excess taxes collected from the community. He also questioned the legal basis of the tax increases, suggesting they may have been implemented under unconstitutional pretenses due to the faulty financial predictions provided by the state-appointed monitors.
{Matzav.com}
